UOW student actors leave audiences speechless and sugared-up
UOW student actors have wrapped up the opening night of ‘Justified and Ancient’, with a plot-twist. While the show brought the house down, some say there were challenges behind-the-scenes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_gCA7PczgI
Wollongong’s Culture Mix Festival
Wollongong's inaugural Culture Mix Festival has drawn a huge crowd. The daylong event, celebrating the region's diversity, with international food, dance and installations, on show at a Marketplace Bazaar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5DBgMO2zsM ...
Rat infestation warning: girls are snacking and scurrying their way into summer
Trigger warning for eating disorders (level: mild mention, location: paragraphs 1-3) Shifting her feet on the uneven floorboards of City Beach, a curvy, pale, 14-year-old girl tugged on a bikini. Summer body dread had begun. She sucked in her stomach before turning to...
The alternate reality of yours and owls 2023
When the date of the Voice to Parliament referendum was announced, it landed on the already-determined Yours and Owls weekend, and it was clear the festival would define the historic event for young people across the Illawarra. What ensued was a bubble of support for...
The “Why?” Behind Situationships
It’s all sunshine and rainbows… right? “I’m in like nine of them at the moment,” says Blake. Situationships. It’s a funny word with an even funnier meaning. To some, it just makes sense; for others, it leaves them hurt and confused. What is a situationship? Well, it's...
The devil is in the drink
Benn, 43, and Rick, 69, were just teenagers when they discovered alcohol, an addiction that would haunt them decades into the future. Benn Veenker, 43, first found alcohol 30 years ago; aged 13, he would drink to suppress that little voice in his head - that voice...
Dragatondra Revealed
Imagine: you’re at the University of Wollongong’s UniBar on a Friday night; you’re seated with a crowd that is warm, welcoming, and oh so very queer; the space is electric — anticipation high for the performances you know are to come — and backstage, Drag Queens,...
Community outcry: not enough measures to prevent spiking
Wollongong is the third most affected area for reported incidents of drink spiking in the state according to a recent BOSCAR report, with local victims calling for more to be done to stop the crime. The rise of drink spiking in Illawarra clubs and pubs has been...
Drug culture at music festivals
With a 2020 study suggesting that approximately 30 per cent of festival goers have used drugs at music festivals, will intervention methods such as pill testing be the answer to saving the lives of young people across the nation? Australia is known for its diverse...
An Indigenous dialect once thought lost, flickers back to life
On the pages of a small booklet are fragments of an ancient language, pieced together over almost four decades by Elders of Indigenous communities spread along the Yuin nation. It’s an emotional moment as the next generation take their seat across from elders at a...